Influence of prognostic health management on logistic supply chain

In this paper, we discuss the problem of determining performance metrics for preemptive condition-based maintenance, also referred to as prognostic health maintenance (PHM). This performance is tightly coupled to the properties of the logistics supply chain. Further, the optimal supply chain design is, in fact, sensitive to the capabilities of the PHM system. We formulate this joint optimization problem, which can be shown to be equivalent to a shortest path problem (SPP). The properties of the solution elucidate the design tradeoffs in using damage prediction technologies in the overall health management solution.